Building a Trading Plan & Strategy (Long-Term Success)
📍 Why You NEED a Trading Journal
✅ Identifies What Works & What Doesn’t – Your best trades come from patterns in your data.
✅ Stops You From Repeating Dumb Mistakes – No more “why do I keep losing?” moments.
✅ Builds Confidence & Discipline – You’ll trade based on what actually works, not emotions.
➡️ If you’re not tracking, you’re not improving. Simple as that.
📍 What to Track in Your Journal
📝 Basic Trade Details:
Pair/Asset: What did you trade?
Date & Time: When did you enter and exit?
Position Size: How much did you risk?
Entry & Exit Price: Where did you get in and out?
📊 Advanced Trade Breakdown:
Why did you enter this trade? (Strategy, market structure, confirmation signals)
What was your risk-to-reward ratio?
Did you follow your plan or FOMO in?
What could you have done better?
Example Entry:
✅ Pair: EUR/USD
✅ Entry: 1.1000 | SL: 1.0975 | TP: 1.1050
✅ R:R = 1:2
✅ Reason: Order block + liquidity grab + bullish confirmation
✅ Mistake: Took profit too early, didn’t let trade play out.
📍 Reviewing Your Performance (This is Where You Get Better)
📅 Weekly & Monthly Reviews
Look at win rate, risk-to-reward ratios, and biggest mistakes.
Find your best setups and trade them MORE.
Cut out the losing strategies that don’t work.
💡 Refine, Adapt, Improve
If your journal shows a setup wins 60% of the time with 1:3 R:R, guess what? You now have an edge.
If you’re constantly losing on the same setup, guess what? Time to ditch it.
🔑 Key Takeaway:
A trading journal is your most powerful weapon. Without it, you’re just another trader repeating the same dumb mistakes. Track your trades, review them, and LEVEL UP.